Competed my HT upgrade, disappointed, where did I go wrong?

[Fink]

I had an Onkyo HT-R8230 receiver/HTIB which came with tiny Onkyo speakers, and a little sub. I had a higher end Sony 5 disk DVD player as source material which was connected to the TV by composit video and to the receiver by analog 5.1. I also had some other irrelevant source components as well. I was actually impressed with the bang for the buck I got out of this system when playing DTS tracks. My new system is built around a Denon 2311ci receiver, which is running a 7.1 setup. I am using Martin Logan Motion 15's for surround and surround back, ML Motif X center, and ML Theos fronts, and a HSU VTF3-MK4 sub. I'm using a Sony BDP-S580 Blue Ray as source, connected to the receiver by HDMI, and the Receiver is then connected to the TV by HDMI. I added a Marantz CC-65SE 5 disk CD changer to compensate for loosing the ability to play five CDs on the previous DVD changer. It is connected by analog stereo.

Musically, this system is a huge upgrade when playing CDs (multi channel stereo). For HT, It does not compare to the old system. The surround sounds "off". Open Range was my reference DVD. A great DTS Master Audio track IMO. On the old system I could hear sounds distinctly placed, the rain was definitely behind you, it sounded like things were moving around the room. I don't get that with this system, it sounds jumbled together. The rain doesn't sound anywhere near as good as it did on the old system.

A few observations:

On the old DVD changer, I could clearly see that I was playing the DTS Master Audio track, and easily change between tracks on the disk. I have no idea what the Blue Ray is playing.

The receiver outputs 7.1 sound on DD PL2 and DTS NEO6 modes, on direct mode, it outputs 2.1

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[adk highlander]

You need to check the settings in the Blu-ray player to output Bitstream if you want to see the audio track type and have the receiver do the processing. It sounds to me like you are just getting 2 channel pcm.

 

[Hocky]

You may have some receiver configuration issues, but I am not familiar with that device. Either way, you don't have enough amp to run those speakers during high output, high action movie scenes. I am actually surprised that your receiver isn't shutting itself off.

 

[PENG]

You may have some receiver configuration issues, but I am not familiar with that device. Either way, you don't have enough amp to run those speakers during high output, high action movie scenes. I am actually surprised that your receiver isn't shutting itself off.

I agree he is likely having setting related issues. As adk highlander suggested, he needs to first try to set the Sony to bitstream, but I think there are other things he needs to do.

As far as not having enough power, may be, may be not, because we don't know about his room dimensions, sitting distance and spl requirements. Given the fact that his new system sounds worse than his previous HTIAB, I would say power is not likely his pressing issue.

The 2311 has very respectable output, not too much behind than your upa amp.

 

[Hocky]

My UPA amp doesn't (and probably can't effectively) power ESL speakers. That sub 1-ohm load can cause problems quickly regardless of spl. I tried to run a pair of Ascents off of a Denon 3308 for a while - it didn't work at all.

 

[PENG]

My UPA amp doesn't (and probably can't effectively) power ESL speakers. That sub 1-ohm load can cause problems quickly regardless of spl. I tried to run a pair of Ascents off of a Denon 3308 for a while - it didn't work at all.

Thanks, now I noticed you have an Aragon amp that is a definitely a real power amp. Again, the op could well be suffering from not having enough power too if he sits reasonably far and the room is not too small.

 

[Fink]

Being that music from the CD changer sounds great, I think I can count out not having enough power from the receiver. On the theos fronts, I have the Electrostat circuit and the woofer circuit wired in series, instead of parallel or biwired, which was suggested by my local dealer to increase speaker resistance.

 

[TheWarrior]

Being that music from the CD changer sounds great, I think I can count out not having enough power from the receiver. On the theos fronts, I have the Electrostat circuit and the woofer circuit wired in series, instead of parallel or biwired, which was suggested by my local dealer to increase speaker resistance.

Have you re-run Audyssey? Did you perform measurements at multiple locations?

 

[markw]

Being that music from the CD changer sounds great, I think I can count out not having enough power from the receiver. On the theos fronts, I have the Electrostat circuit and the woofer circuit wired in series, instead of parallel or biwired, which was suggested by my local dealer to increase speaker resistance.

While this will increase the series resistance, it won't do any favors to your sound. Impedance interactions between speakers connected in series can have "unpredictable" effects on the sound.

 

[Fink]

Have you re-run Audyssey? Did you perform measurements at multiple locations?

Yes I have. Just set Audyssey to one listening position.

 

[Fink]

While this will increase the series resistance, it won't do any favors to your sound. Impedance interactions between speakers connected in series can have "unpredictable" effects on the sound.

The sound is not bad from the Theos, although this setup is temporary until my next upgrade which will be a 9.2 Atmos 4K receiver and a separate 4 channel amp to drive the Theos biamped.

 

[Fink]

I did get the setup figured out on the Blue-Ray player, I was outputting stereo to the receiver and getting "fake" surround from the receiver. Thanks for all the help guys!!!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]